Interdisciplinary Teaching Through Outdoor Education provides teachers and recreation and outdoor leaders with outdoor activities as well as the expertise to expand students’ understanding of the outdoors and develop their character. Units are included for challenge initiatives that don’t require a ropes course, frontcountry camping, backcountry camping, outdoor cooking techniques, land navigation, casting and angling, and archery. Also discussed are rock climbing and canoeing and kayaking.

Developed for teachers and leaders of children and youth aged 10 to 15, this book does the following:

Grounds readers in the principles of teaching outdoor education

Provides them with current practices

Details seven introductory, ready-to-implement units of outdoor adventure activities presented so that novices to a particular activity can teach that unit

Includes easy-to-teach, step-by-step experiential education lesson plans that focus on basic outdoor skills, with character development qualities linked to each lesson

Helps teachers meet NASPE and multidisciplinary national standards for students in grades 5 to 10

In addition to the units and lesson plans, Interdisciplinary Teaching Through Outdoor Education provides teachers and leaders with the following:

Interdisciplinary connections in each lesson

Strategies for questioning students so that they find the answers and for developing character qualities within each lesson

Preparation, teaching, and assessment techniques for each lesson

Safety and teaching tips for each activity

And because planning time is a rare commodity for teachers, the author has gone to great lengths to provide the background and help that teachers need in order to give outdoor education a try. In fact, through Interdisciplinary Teaching Through Outdoor Education, teachers and leaders have the tools and guidance to develop their own outdoor programs.

Part I introduces readers to outdoor education and its role in school. It explores the foundations and methods for using outdoor education and highlights its interdisciplinary connections. Part II provides detailed instructions for the novice in conducting outdoor education lessons as well as unit plans for seven outdoor education areas with sample lesson plans and activities. Part III delves into school programming, including planning field trips and starting a school-based outdoor education program.

Outdoor education has grown to be a multidisciplinary concept. This book captures the depth and breadth of that concept, provides outdoor adventure activities, and details the vital components of fostering learning and character development through outdoor education. Interdisciplinary Teaching Through Outdoor Education will more than meet teachers’ and leaders’ needs in using the outdoors to educate children and youth aged 10 to 15.

Chapter 7. Land Navigation
How to Use a Compass
Pace and Pace Factor
Compass Course
How to Use a Map
Using the Compass and Map Together
Unit Plan for Land Navigation
Using a Compass
Using Paces and Pace Factors
Compass Way Finding and Map Way Finding
Using a Map

Reference for physical educators, classroom teachers, and administrators for students in grades 5 through 10. Text for courses in outdoor education and recreation for future K-12 teachers. Reference for parks and recreation leaders, camp leaders, and other community youth leaders.

Camille J. Bunting, PhD, is an associate professor in the department of health and kinesiology and director of the Outdoor Education Institute at Texas A&M University. She has been an active professional in the field of experiential education for nearly 30 years. She helped start an undergraduate major and minor emphasis in outdoor education at Texas A&M, and she is certified by the Wilderness Education Association as an outdoor leadership instructor. Bunting has conducted numerous teacher trainings and conference programs on the topics in this book and was instrumental in starting and expanding the Texas Outdoor Education Association. She is a past president of the Council on Outdoor Education for the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

In addition to administering the programs of the Outdoor Education Institute, teaching graduate and undergraduate classes, and facilitating adventure education experiences, Bunting maintains a research agenda focusing on the physiological and psychological responses to outdoor adventure activities. Bunting is also the president of a consulting business, Success Dimensions, Inc. In her leisure time she enjoys doing many of the activities in this book, including canoeing, kayaking, and backpacking.